Cell transfer systems have been used to study the capacity of aged mouse bone marrow to generate functional bone marrow-derived (B) lymphocytes. The progeny of the B lymphocytes in these systems were detected as anti-sheep erythrocyte antibody-producing cells. These in vivo transfer systems suggested that bone marrow from aged mice contained a significantly greater number of differentiated immunocompetent cells than marrow from young mice. Increased frequencies of theta and IgM-bearing cells in the aged marrow were detected by immunofluorescent techniques. Immunofluorescent studies and cell transfer systems demonstrated that pre-treatment of the aged bone marrow donors with anti-lymphocyte serum physically depleted the marrow of contaminating thymus-derived lymphocytes and reduced the relative responsiveness of the cells. Anti-lymphocyte serum did not decrease the number of bone marrow stem cells as measured by the colony-forming unit assay. The results suggested an age-associated alteration in lymphocyte circulation dynamics and a decreased ability of aged marrow to generate B lymphocytes.
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Farrar et al. (1974) studied this question.